Through the Eye

Nell Hornsby
Ms. Pahomov
College English
September 26, 2025

In my artwork, I portray the tourism scene from Chapter 5 of The Handmaid’s Tale. I chose this scene from the book because it stuck out to me as one really formative moment in the reader’s understanding of the story. This scene is one of the few times we see people within Gilead interacting with people outside, and it gives us more context on this society and its relation to our world. It’s also a self-reflective moment for Offred as she realizes how much she’s changed while being here. I remember feeling engaged in the class discussion and excited to dig deeper into my interpretation of this moment, which is why I chose it for my first Lit Log.

One of the first elements I knew I wanted to include in my artwork was the portrayal of the Handmaids as animals in a cage. During our discussion on chapters 5-7, it was mentioned that there was “a curiosity, like a zoo” between the narrator and the tourists. I really clung to this idea as I was drafting out this project because I thought there were some really interesting elements to it. First, I think the society of Gilead makes it easy to compare the Handmaids to animals in a zoo. They have little to no choice, but are fed and exercised, and, in this scene, are on display for the tourists, similar to zoo animals. Second, there is a really big theme around the “protection” of the Handmaid’s body. The Aunts tell the Handmaids early on that, “What you must be, girls, is impenetrable.” (28). They wear large cloaks and wings covering their faces to restrict the contact they can have with other people. The idea of the Handmaids being caged in these ways can deepen the simile of zoo-like curiosity in this scene.

There was a lot of thought that went into choosing which animal I wanted the Handmaids to be in my drawing. In the end, I chose to portray them as parrots because while parrots have the ability to talk, they can only repeat things that they hear. This was inspired by the end of Chapter 5, when the tourists ask Offred and her walking partner if they are happy. Offred knows she has to respond because saying nothing is dangerous, but there seems to be only a few acceptable things that she can say. She is equally as scared to say the wrong thing as she is to say nothing at all. Her response is “Yes, we are very happy,” and the chapter ends with the line, “I have to say something. What else can I say?” (29). Both Offred and the parrots have a limited vocabulary that is influenced by what their higher-ups tell them.

There are some other smaller elements to my artwork, like the “revealing” clothing the tourists wear, the shiny hair that the narrator describes, the camera, and–even though it’s not directly in this scene–I added a Martha cleaning the Handmaid’s cage to represent their dynamic throughout the book. The final thing I wanted to emphasize in my reflection, though, was the eye. The idea of the Eye comes up many times throughout The Handmaid’s Tale, but it has an important role in the tourism scene when Offred thinks, “I know better than to look the interpreter in the face. Most of the interpreters are Eyes, or so it’s said.” (28). This serves as a reminder to both the narrator and the reader that in Gilead, they are always being watched. Every word has to be calculated, and a wrong move can be dangerous. By putting a big focus on the eye, I want to remind the viewer of the pressure of this situation.